About Me

My name is Kelsey McCardell

and I have been grooming for about 12 years. I have adored animals as kindred spirits since before I can remember and have a special soft spot in my heart for dogs. I love their vastly differing personalities, quirks, and incredible loyalty.
I first started as a dog bather and quickly fell in love with everything I learned about the profession of dog grooming. Breed specific haircuts, dog psychology and body language, and of course all of the snuggles!

I met the love of my life here in Michigan. We moved together to Texas where we resided for 10 happy years. In 2017 our family became whole as we invited our daughter into our lives. We returned to Michigan in 2018 to be closer to family, which is what we value above all else.
Life is and always will be full of ups and downs but we feel very blessed to be starting a venture into the world of the entrepreneurship...especially in the wake of COVID-19! So thank you to everyone who has supported me and helped to get this venture off the ground! We appreciate you! And for all of our new clients, thank you and welcome aboard! We hope to say thank you by providing you excellent service and caring for your fuzzy friends as if they were our own!
Speaking of fuzzy friends…

Hopey

We found Hopey bleeding profusely from her head under a bush in a small South Texas town. We were attending a shrimp festival (yup you got me, I love me some shrimp!) and there she was, cowering in a ground of other puppies, under an adoption tent. She had no ears, horrible scarring, and scabs on her head and patches of hair missing from her body. We observed as countless people went to pet and dote on the other dogs, but no one seemed to want anything to do with Hopey. I called the shelter the following morning and made arrangements to foster her.

After 9 months we determined it would be cruel to her to continue to seek a family, as she had become part of ours. We adopted her and made her an official addition to our home! We found out that Hopey has an autoimmune disease, likely brought on by the trauma she sustained to her head. We have found some effective treatment methods so she is a thriving and happy girl that we have all come to love. She is also patient as a Saint and a wonder furry sister to our daughter. Besties come in all shapes, sizes, and species!

Lala

Lala started hanging out in our yard when we lived in Texas. She was limping and had clearly recently had a litter of puppies. She wouldn’t let us get anywhere near her at first. One weekend we had a severe tropical storm and the alleyways flooded. We were never able to find the puppies, and sadly, think they may have perished in the storm. She came back to the yard and didn’t leave after that. We started leaving a pebble trail for her to a partially cracked garage door with a big pile of food inside. We finally got her inside and were able to close the door. She was very scared and would only let us go to her if we came bearing gifts of ham! She was covered head to toe in fleas and ticks and had very pale gums.

We treated the bugs, gave her a haircut, and took her to the vet. She was upset the day after the vet and escaped out the front door. We were sure we would never see her again, but we were wrong. The next day Lala showed back up sitting sheepishly under a tree as if to say she made a mistake. We opened the door and she came back inside and never left again. Now Lala is a cherished member of our family as well. We could leave the door open all day and Lala would never leave without one of us with her.

Toby

Toby is our angel doggie. He passed peacefully over the rainbow bridge in my lap at a county vet on the edge of a field in 2018. Admittedly I’m struggling just to write this, but my website, my life, and my passion for animals wouldn’t be complete without him a part of all of it. I have always had dogs, and I have loved them all, but Toby was different. I don’t know that I will ever experience a bond with an animal again that could hold a candle to the relationship I shared with him.

Toby was a big doberman weighing in, during his prime, at over 110lbs. We adopted him from a doberman rescue that he had lived at for almost two years. We figured we would have our work cut out for us because he was animal aggressive and had never lived in a home.

Toby lived to please us. He potty trained in less than a week, we worked for about a year on animal aggression and redirecting his attention and anxiety to exercise and training and the transformation was astounding. We had him prior to both Hopey and Lala and as they came into our home he embraced them both and cared for them.

He shared his bed with Lala (the first to arrive) and cautiously avoided stepping on her or bulldozing her when they played outside. He put up with Hopey (overwhelming puppy energy) and also shared his bed with her. Then our daughter was born and he was instantly smitten with her laying on the side of her mat during tummy time to sniff and observe her. When she was on the couch with us he would lean on our legs and lovingly gaze at her.

Toby had endless health issues from malnutrition and heart worm prior to us adopting him and his body started to fall apart which we managed as long as we were able to provide him with quality of life. He reached a point where he was having accidents and would get so upset and disappointed in himself even with our reassurance that we realized his quality of life was slipping. When we decided to move back to Michigan we knew he was at the point that he wouldn’t survive the trip. That day was the hardest day of my life to date. I think about him almost daily. He was such a gift. Instead of the heartbreak making me hesitant to open my heart again to having dogs in my home, it had the opposite effect. Dogs are a GIFT. They can teach us patience and love and fill our homes with joy. I will always have dogs in my home in his honor and will see parts of him in all of them, even the dogs I work with. I am grateful to Toby for inspiring me to see the transformation dogs are capable of, even coming from the hardest of circumstances. Enjoy chasing all the kitties Toby Henry, you will forever be my best friend.

Kelsey's Mobile Grooming